First day home

I had a wonderful time this past weekend. As I mentioned before I was heading to our family cabin for a mommy time weekend. Firstly I ended up leaving a bit later than I had intended. But by the time I got there, unloaded all my stuff, put away groceries and started a fire in the woodstove I happened to look out the cabin window to this. So I grabbed my camera and headed out to the shoreline and got some amazing photos! I've personally never seen a sunset quite like this with the blues and yellows. This photo is straight out of my camera, manual settings.

I went to the cabin for some rest and relaxation but I brought my scrapbooking stuff plus a book I was wanting to read. It was great to also have a friend come over for a drink Friday evening.

I had planned a bit of my packing a week or so before. I was thrilled to get a hold of 2 new lines from Echo Park, one of my new favorite paper companies. I got their paper packs and added cardstock and embellishments to match so packing was super easy. Just add photos and I was all set. This layout was done for a design team challenge from ScrapShotz and it was to use a quote on your layout. I rarely ever do quotes but this one fit. With the renos to our house the quote was oh so perfect!

This layout was done with the new Bo-Bunny papers and embellishments, so simple but it conveys the story I want. And that's why I scrapbook.

Same papers, Bo-Bunny but they worked with the outdoor twisting that Owen loves to do.

This one was also done for a challenge, using felt on a layout. It may seem weird to use flowers on a *boy* layout but it fits with the journalling. Part of it reads " I know school hasn't always been sunshine and roses for you..."

Look! I did a 2 page layout without being told to, ha! I just had so many great shots of Owen's first trip to the lake that they had to be scrapped. This was also done for a challenge, putting a list on it!

More Echo Park papers! I so love this company! Its pretty bad when you buy the paper once and then see it in the store again and seriously contimplate buying again!

Every time we change Owen's diaper we always call him a "Soggy Bottom Boy" and I finally had a chance to scrapbook it. Bad mommy here, I forgot to pack a swimmer diaper. So sorry buddy!

My Abby adores being outside and the lake was no exception. I think she would have eaten her lunch in the water if I'd have let her! These papers were also from Echo park but the backside of the double sided paper.

This one still makes me laugh! Abby and Ethan are typical siblings...they fight. Ron finally got fed up with them and the new punishment is to hold hands and sit on the couch for an entire hour! I grabbed my camera of course and boy was Abby mad that I was taking a picture! She kept trying to get away from Ethan who hung on, because that was the rule. He's such a rule follower ;)

This was one of the photos that I tried to take when I was redo my profile picture for facebook. Its totally not in focus becasue taking photos of yourself is very difficult (at least for me) Its funny because I still see myself as fat but by looks of this photo I'm not sporting *that* much muffin top. Still needing to work on a bunch of stuff.

I think this is one of my most favorites from this past weekend. The photo is my typical Abby. She's been going through the typical 8 year old girl thing, from feeling misunderstood to crying over a glass of spilt milk to laughing and playing with her little brother. We've been butting heads more often lately too, we're just so much alike. I keep praying everyday that God shows me how to be a better mom to her.

Whew! Are you all tired of going through all the photos? Sorry! I also created 5 different cards this weekend but I can't show them as they are for a class coming up and I gave some away already! Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my work!

just a couple more hours and I'm outta here!

My fabulous dh offered to watch the kids for a whole weekend so that I could go away by myself to our families' cabin for my birthday. I loved the idea but opted to wait for September when I'd *really* need it. So this weekend is it! I've got way more stuff packed than I could possibly need but I'm going for comfort! I'll be back in a couple of days! Hope I don't freeze!

September Memory Workshop Kit

I was super thrilled to be asked to guest design the September kit for the Memory Workshop! Then I got the kit in the mail and was thrilled all over again! The SEI papers were so gorgeous that photos just don't do it justice.

Me and 2 page layouts don't usually get along just because I find I struggle to create unity between such a large area and the simple fact that I'm better with squares than rectangles. However I had some awesome photos of my daughter and my niece from our recent trip to the Calgary Zoo. I'm so thankful that these cousins are best friends no matter how often they see each other. I totally had fun with the coordinations cardstock and the beautiful canvas texture flowers.

This might be one of my favorite 2 pagers that I've done. The pattern paper that frames the entire layout was actually created with only 1/2 a sheet of pattern paper. I just cut them all the same size and made a "frame" I love the fact that photos of the butterflies allowed me to go a little crazy with my butterfly punch and sizzlets butterfly die :)

I love these photos of my wonderful mother in law and sister in law. Truely wonderful people, talented too!

As soon as I saw the chipboard word "mother" I thought of these great photos of my sister and her kids.

This has got to be my go-to photo placement. Two photos butted up together to create one unified photo. It just simplifies the whole design process for me. I figure why fix it if its not broke?

And because Sandra puts together a huge kit, I had leftovers that I created 3 cards with. To be honest I had enough to really create one more layout but my attention span being what it is, I was done ;)

Scrapshotz card crew

I was super excited to be a part of the Scrapshotz card crew for the next 3 months. Scrapshotz is my go to online scrapbooking store and my message board home since Scrapper's Haven closed. This week was my week to put up the card challenge!

So the challenge was to add some dimension to your card by adding dimension to your stamped image. Come and play along!

I borrowed my sil rose stamp set because surprisingly I didn't have a flower stamp that would work with this challenge. We laughed because this was the very first Stampin' Up! stamp she bought about 11 years ago! I stamped the image 2 times on different cardstock pieces. Then I colored in one completely with my new Bick Mark Its! (poor woman's copics) then I colored in the roses on the second stamped image, cut them out and used foam pop dots to put them on the same spot as the original stamp. The card was then finished off with purely pomegranite papers and ribbons from SU!.

dragging along as usual :)

Does it ever seem to you that you are always one day late and a dollar short all the time? This has been my life for the past summer. I had all these great plans of scrapping time, organizing my house, painting and renos and here it is August 23 and I'm hanging my head in shame. But this just means that I set my goals high :)

Our entrance renos are coming along, we are insulating as I speak and it won't be long before drywall and flooring go in. The best part? I can walk more than a foot and a half before I have to climb the stairs when I come in from getting groceries!

This past Thrusday I helped organize a scrapbooking/cardmaking night at a local place. So in going with my theme of summer, my dh wasn't able to come home to watch the kids. I was pretty ticked but then found out he had to work really late due to an accident on one of his roads. I was ashamed at myself for feeling so selfish when someone else clearly had bigger problems than mine. So I ended up having Ethan babysit his sister and his brother. I made 1/2hourly phone calls and ran home once to change a diaper and put Owen to bed. Needless to say I felt scatterbrained and generally out of sorts. I only got 2 cards done!

The first was a simple no brainer for me. I'm beyond thrilled that Stampin' Up! brought back Baja Breeze. It was a color that I had overlooked the first time around and now I'm planning on stocking up big time! I also got this cute new mushroom stamp set, which I can see me using a bunch.

This card was more of a stretch for me. I don't normall y do pretty/vintagey kind of stuff. And I know some would argue that this card really isn't vintage but for me its very much out of my comfort zone! Love love love the new brown, Early Espresso, from Stampin' Up! as well. You can't tell but I did use Versamark dazzle in champange which gave the brown flowers a very subtle shimmer.

My orignal intention was to work on the new Memory Workshop September kit. Yup you heard me right :) I was asked to Guest design again and I was thrilled to do so. When I sat down to work, I was so flustered with how the night was going that I just put it back in my tote. I ended up working on it in the comfort of my scrapbooking room. After working for most of the day and almost not feeding my kids (ha! just kidding) I completed 6 layouts including 2 double pagers which are usually the bane of my exsistance! The papers were gorgeous and so easy to work with! A big thank you to Sandra for giving me the opportuity to design again :)

restocking my card stash

Despite having a sick kid this past weekend, I was able to get some cards made. Poor little guy slept a lot and now is feeling better. Still a bit clingy but that's to be expected.

This was the only card that I used Bazzill on, it doesn't stamp very well but it was the color of grey that I wanted. Also the embossed paper was an old DCWV glitter mat stack.

For almost all the cards I made I used Stampin' Up! Cardstock and Stampin' Up! pattern paper. I got to play with my new nestabilites and my cuttlebug embossing folders.

Loving the new large size of cuttlebug folders. I almost didn't buy this one because I already have a polka dot one but I'm so glad I didn't resist. It actually embosses the whole front of the card not "most" of it.

This was one of those stamps where you need to line up the flowers with the stem. I really am not good at it so this is my second try. I made the decision to unmount my stamps and I can't wait until my ezmount foam comes in so I can begin. I'm mainly doing the unmounting for space saving purposes (in my scrapbooking room and my crop bag) and for ease of stamping.

This was just a quick and easy card made from scraps. I so love this Hero Arts acrylic set of stamps. Very clean and simple sayings for so many occasions.

If its hard to see the sentiment on this card says "Happy Anniversary" I used versamark and I'm thinking that I should have heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Oh well, next time!

This card took me a few tries to get the butterflies just right. My markers are in serious need of refreshing and I think they will be on my next Stampin' Up! order form.

Ok I have to admit this is my favorite! I really think I'm going to do some varitions of this one, maybe different butterflies and different color schemes. I adore the simplicity of it.

This was one stamp set that I *had* to have. I have the matching embossing folder and to be honest I can't seem to use it very creatively. I stamped the green flower with old olive and then found that the water color pencils I had didn't work well with that color. So I ended up coloring in the flower with smooch. I think some water color crayons in a larger variety of colors in next on my list as well.

Party weekend!

So with the past 2 weeks being devoted to party decorations, swimming lessons and just general chaos I was quite happy for the weekend.

My sweet wonderful husband turned 40 on August 1st and I wanted to celebrate him. So I made 40 giant cupcakes and added 40 of my favorite photos of him on them. Thank goodness for my cricut because it took a while to cut those suckers out. I made copies of the photos so just in case some got ruined that the originals didn't.

I also created this sign with my cricut and one of my all time favorite photos of Ron (can we say yummy??) I really don't like the whole "40 and over the hill" mentality of it so I put my own postive spin on things.

This weekend was also the fishing derby at Beaver Lake which Ron and my dad entered leaving me to watch the kids with the help of my mom. 

So we hit the beach both days and the kids loved every minute of it!

 

 

They've never been to a real beach before (bad mommy I know!) and even though I had a hard time keeping Owen in the shade or even getting him to wear a hat he had a blast...and no sunburns thanks to some great UV suits!

The only downside to all this hoopla and traveling away from home is that Owen doesn't eat or nap so well. Making for a very tiring day for both him and I. I've since counted that since the end of May I've only had a total of 6 hours to myself. I'm starting to feel the strain and I'm starting to plan for a weekend for me soon before school and the real work routine starts.

quick update

Yup still alive. I've been busy making birthday decorations for my sweet dh's birthday hoping things go off without a hitch on Friday. This week is swimming lessons. Still working a few days each week. Packing the weekends full of renovations, uncluttering, some pool time and trying to get in some relaxing. Guess which one isn't happening enough? I'll be back soon with party photos.

Summer time scrapbooking

So with the more relaxed routine of summer I've been getting more chances to scrapbook which is very

 good.

I created this layout for a challenge at Scrap Shotz to do computer journalling, something I rarely, if ever, do. I even pulled out some of those "older" embellishments that have been taking up space in my drawers. The pattern papers are Cosmo Cricket.

This is a layout that has been in my mind for a while to create. Not so much the photo or the story but the design with the punched out squres. Pattern papers are American Crafts, as well as the thickers and plastic flowers.

I got a chance to make some cards today and I had so much fun playing with new papers (Basic Grey Green at heart 6x6 pad) I'm really liking the 6x6 pads for cards because you don't waste a full sheet and I find that some of the papers are less overwhelming.

Totally loving that Top Note die from Stampin' Up! by sizzix! This cute little SU! stamp set (Trendy Trees) is one of my all time favorites too. Add a few scraps of October Afternoon papers and a cute sentiment by Hero Arts and you're good to go.

Ok for some reason this blue backgroud looked way better in person. I might have to change it because to be honest its bugging me. Love this cuttlebug pumpkin and Cosmo Cricket Earth love papers.

I'm quite pleased with myself for using only paper scraps for all these cards! Almost finished up this Basic Grey pad! Plus these Hero Arts stamps are my go to favorite lately.

I had fun with this color combo, easy when you pull colors from your pattern paper. I made a mistake stamping so I added 2 rows of ribbon to cover my mistake. Gotta love flexibility!

 

This card may just be my favorite with cuttlebug embossing folder (happy birthday) and Basic Grey ribbon with my favorite butterfly embosslits (from SU!) All done with scraps again!

Some new scrapbooking

This past weekend I was able to get away to spend time with friends and do a bit of scrapbooking. Its so great to have a group of people who enjoy getting together to share ideas, food and laughter.

I used some crate paper for this layout. My sweet sister-in-law took this cute photo of my Abby and was kind enough to print it out for me.

I've been enjoying making collages in Picasa lately because it allows me to get quite a few photos onto a page. I do majority of my editing in Photoshop Elements but print and crop with Picasa. All the papers and embellishments used on this layout are Basic Grey and I found them in the discounted bin as a scrapbooking store.

For those that know I'm more of an everyday scrapbooker rather than one who scrapbooks events and holidays. For this reason I've always had a hard time doing birthdays, they are days that need to be recorded but I still struggle. I employed the same collage technique but made the photos wallet size, I'm happy with how it turned out. I used the Memory Workshop June kit featuring Crate papers.

Just a simple layout that I wanted to do showing the differences between Ethan playing ball and Owen attempting to play ball. Papers are American Crafts, October Afternoon and Jillibean Soup.

This was a favorite photo that I took in June. I finally managed to get a good photo of all my parents' grandkids, no small feat with 2 boys under 2. Papers used are October Afternoon.

My new favorite layout of Owen. I took these photos at Churchill park just after he got his super cute haircut. I dug into my scrap box and grabbed some October Afternoon paper strips, added a journalling block and some grungeboard stars and I was done. Love a layout that just falls into place.

I bought this Kasier Craft paper last November with hopes to use it with some summer pool photos. I used the collage feature again and printed some wallet size photos into a strip. Totally loving my cricut gypsy which allows me to weld my letters together, one of the better investments I've made.